an Archbishop’s directive

from The Orthodox Christian News Service, (Published by Ekathimerini.com) December 4, 2004- More than two months after its revolutionary decision to conduct Bible readings in Modern Greek, the Church of Greece is now planning to start services in sign language, Archbishop Christodoulos announced.

The head of the highly conservative Greek Orthodox Church told a delegation of disabled people’s unions that a series of seminars on learning sign language was launched last year, and will be continued this year to enable clergymen to conduct services for deaf congregations.

The archbishop also said all parishes have been instructed to improve church accessibility for the disabled. “Wherever this is not yet the case, it is due to technical difficulties that we are trying to overcome as fast as possible,” he said.

In September, Athens churches started services in Modern Greek, for people unfamiliar with the original Ancient Greek texts. One also offers English services.